The co-leads of Write to Read BC plan to travel to Daylu Dena’s new library in early November 2025. They will deliver books and computers.
The books will provide the indigenous focus that the community envisioned for its library.
The computers and high-speed Internet connection will allow the library to offer remote access to online courses and conferences. Librarians typically refer to this as a learning centre.
The Tsi-Deldel or Tŝideldel First Nation is in the western Chilcotin district of the BC’s central Interior region. Its offices are located on Redstone Reserve. It includes smaller reserves around Redbrush and Puntzi Lake. It is sometimes referred to as the Alexis Creek Indian Band.
Tsi-Deldel First Nation’s traditional way of life includes fishing, hunting, and plant gathering. Community members fish for salmon and trout, and gather berries and medicinal plants in the surrounding rivers, lakes, mountains and traditional areas. These practices have been a part of its way of life for generations and continue to be an essential part of its culture today.
Write to read BC installed its 18th library here. Its sponsors included the Rotary Club of the Sunshine Coast, and the Jack Gin Family Foundation.
Yunesit’in, previously Stone, is part of the Tsilhqot’in First Nation. It’s territory is about 110 km west of Williams Lake, in BC’s west-central interior Chilcotin region, along the south side of the Tsilhqox River. Its offices are located at the town of Hanceville, about 20 north of the Yunesit’in nation. The nation’s language is Chilcotin.
Yunesit’in ancestral stories define the community’s spiritual relationship to the land and the animals; it explains how the land was shaped, and teaches the basis of Yunesit’in law. Yunesit’in have a special relationship with horses, which remain a foundation of their culture.
Yunesit’in are a hardworking people who hunt and fish, and who value the land for its healthy food. The traditional knowledge of how to live from the land is passed, through families, to each generation.
This was the second library installed by Write to Read BC. Sponsors included Rotary Club of Williams Lake, Rotary Club of Sechelt, Rotary Club of Commerce City in Colorado USA, and Britco Structures (now Boxx Modular).
Leaders of Lheidli T’enneh First Nation, educators, and Write to Read BC volunteers have discussed the community’s vision for an indigenous-led library. A library offers support for programs that interest the community.
Also, the library’s collection will represent Indigenous communities.
The Lheidli T’enneh Band, previously the Fort George Indian Band, are Dakelh and Carrier people who lived where the Nechako River joins the Fraser River, and traditionally included the city of Prince George, BC. Lheidli T’enneh means “The People from the Confluence of the Two Rivers.
The band used temporary and seasonal settlements across their territory, and archeological evidence shows fishing camps along the Nechako and Fraser rivers as well as in the Beaverly area. The Lheidli T’enneh did not have permanent settlements in what is modern day Prince George until the 1820s arrival of the Hudson’s Bay Company post, Fort George, after which they also began keeping gardens.
The band government focuses on:
The community also has an Elders society whose purpose is to protect and encourage Lheidli T’enneh traditions, language, and culture through access and education.
In a partnership, Write to Read BC and the Lheidli T’enneh Band are designing a library. As the project continues, the library may be installed in 2025 or 2026.
Need to brighten up your cloudy day? Stop by our Bella Bella library/office and check out this beautiful new mural by Thomas Kero! Photos don’t do it justice. There are so many hidden creatures and special features nestled into the summertime foliage.
Write to Read BC’s design response team visited the Sxoxomic Community School at Esk’etemc, and ended up designing a library with the kids. Although the students are not designers, they have clear ideas about how to lay out their library.
Our co-lead Dr Shirley-Pat Gale heard from new elementary school’s principal that the school does not yet have a library.
Gale, brought in Write to Read BC’s design response team, architect Scott Kemp, and co-lead Bob Blacker. The team mixed with grade 7 students, and magical things happened.
During an amazing lunch-and-design session with the kids, the team designed its layout, including where the new shelving would be placed. The shelves will be made by the Nanaimo Correctional Centre. All that remains is for library response team lead Margaret Fletcher to visit the school to review what books they’d like, and then the school can contact our Aboriginal book distributor GoodMinds.com and Jeff Burnham to purchase the aboriginal authored books that will make their library suit the community.
This was Write to Read BC’s first design session with students from an elementary school, and it was a success.
While attending a Rotary Club leadership conference, Write to Read BC co-lead Dr Shirley-Pat Gale was interviewed by Rotarian David Mangs about her work with libraries, literacy, and Write to Read BC.
During the video interview, Gale told the story of the child who inspired her to start providing not only books but spaces for libraries in isolated BC communities.
Interviewer David Mangs is a past district governor of Rotary district 7890. Mangs begins the interview by explaining the goals of Rotary Clubs, and by introducing Gale.
With much of the community in attendance, Haida Gwaii opened its new library on April 25, 2017. Community leaders want the aboriginal library to promote literacy and encourage a love of learning in Old Massett.
Old Massett is on the north end of Graham Island in Haida Gwaii, a group of islands off the BC coast, near Alaska.
The idea for this library began with Literacy Haida Gwaii, about three years ago. The community received $60,000 in sponsorship when the literacy society partnered with Write to Read BC, Rotary Club, and Government House.
To get started, the project received $5,000 for books and resources. The library also has two computers, with Internet access. Community members now have access to resources beyond Old Massett.
Judith Guichon, lieutenant-governor of BC, attended the library opening, along with Chris Neufeld of Britco Structures (now Boxx Modular).
Britco sponsors the Write to Read BC project by donating modular buildings and paying to ship them to isolated communities that want a library. The Old Massett module was shipped free of charge by BC Ferries. Vancouver Island Regional Library will help train volunteers to manage the library database. London drugs donated computers.
